


bad habits

by whisperedwords



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: (the glass kind not the pc kind), Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Canon Autistic Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Implied Sexual Content, Jason Scott POV, M/M, Multi, OT5, Polyamory, Trouble With Windows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 14:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11625495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whisperedwords/pseuds/whisperedwords
Summary: or, Jason Scott and the year of the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Window Situation.(Of course, he should’ve known that this open-window peace would be disturbed as soon as he crash-landed into an ancient spaceship with four strangers who would, it turns out, be the loves of his life. Why should he have expected anything different?)





	bad habits

**Author's Note:**

> so i was reading a zason fic whose title i cannot for the LIFE OF ME remember and there was a part where zack just. shows up to jason's house and climbs through his window to get to him??? and i realized, holy fuck, imagine if that was just. their little meeting place. all the rangers literally just scale his damn house and climb through his open window like kim did in the movie. this fic is the result of that realization.
> 
> (note: all of them are 18 in this fic.)  
> (note #2: this fic title doesn't come from a john mayer song. who tf am i)

Jason Scott has lived in Angel Grove for all his life. He remembers running around their tiny branch of Krispy Kreme with Pearl when they were much younger; he remembers the exact path he took to school every single day from Kindergarten to 6th grade. He even remembers the mining accident, even though it’d been nearly a decade before—remembers the way everything seemed to slow to a stop, and how he felt so sad at age 9 even though he hadn’t really known anyone involved.

In short: he’s spent his entire life in the same house on the same port of the same town and not once has he ever felt unsafe. His parents generally left their doors unlocked, and for 3 out of the 4 seasons, Jason kept the bay window in his room wide open. (He used to leave it open so that he’d hear when his father got home from work late at night and be able to run downstairs to greet him—but things… _changed_ over the years. Now, his reasoning is that it simply turned into a habit he’d never really felt the urge to break.) The breeze is cool at night over the water, and Jason falls asleep almost instantly, the sound of the water quietly lulling him into comfort after a stressful night dealing with Zordon.

Of course, he should’ve known that this open-window peace would be disturbed as soon as he crash-landed into an ancient spaceship with four strangers who would, it turns out, be the loves of his life. Why should he have expected anything different? Kimberly Hart sneaks into his room the night before Rita Repulsa’s attack on Angel Grove, spills her heart to him and then kisses him, and the peace he’d known for almost nineteen years flies out the window like it’d never even existed. Then a giant gold monster and a crazed, probably-half-zombie ranger show up and try to rip his and Pearl’s same Krispy Kreme straight from the ground, and peace in Angel Grove completely dissipates. News of the attack suddenly puts them on the map—FEMA tries to get involved and several important government figures show up, and now all Jason hears at night through his open windows is the sound of construction.

He’s learning to enjoy it, a little.

With all of the town’s sudden-yet-consistent bustle, he almost doesn’t notice when Zack Taylor’s feet land silently on his windowsill. Jason, who sleeps on his right side because his left knee still aches a little bit if he puts too much weight on it, doesn’t move as he hears Zack’s soft intake of breath—he just hums a little, a quiet acknowledgement that he’s awake.

“Jay?”

“How’d you get in?” Jason asks, even though he knows exactly how. Zack’s feet hit the soft carpeting of his floor, and the red ranger rolls onto his back, not sitting up just yet as the black ranger settles down onto the comforter.

“The window.” Zack halfheartedly thumbs at his window, panes swung wide open, and Jason huffs out a quiet laugh at how casual and ridiculous this is. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Zack. If I were asleep, you wouldn’t be here.”

Zack hums for a moment, looks down at his shoes for a second or two before turning his head to face Jason’s now-upright torso. “Not true.”

“Dude.”

“You’re _cute_ when you sleep, Jay-Jay.” Jason snorts in disbelief, eyes rolling fondly, and he whacks Zack in the shoulder. Neither reaction stops Zack from talking. “You know, you mumble in your sleep a lot. Say my name a lot, too. What’s _that_ about?”

“You _wish_ , man,” Jason laughs. Zack opens his mouth again, probably to say something else stupid, so Jason decides to shut him up by pulling him into a kiss. He can _feel_ the way Zack’s lips have moved from sharp and teasing to soft and gentle, suddenly pliant under Jason’s touch, and it may be 2:15am but Jason Scott is suddenly wide awake. As the two rangers part, mostly to catch their breath, Zack grins at him, shameless and flirtatious, eyes as dark as his ranger suit.

“Being a creep has its perks, huh?” The words roll off his lips and right up against Jason’s. For a moment, Jason considers dignifying a response—but the snark has left his brain completely with Zack so close to him, and he really doesn’t want to stop what they’re doing at all.

“Shut up and kiss me, Taylor,” he answers instead, and the grin on Zack’s face fades into something softer, something more alluring. Without pause, he obliges; his hands press against Jason’s cheeks, tender and possessive and needy all at once, and it blows Jason’s mind at how _good_ this feels, how _natural_ it is. For his fellow ranger to scale his house, leap through the window, and land in his bed like it’s something they’ve done a thousand times before.

Zack spends the night and scrambles back through that big open window early, before Sam Scott gets back from his overnight shift to give them a knowing-but-dubious look as he passes. All in all, as far as the chaos of senior year has been going for them, it’s pretty good.

* * *

 

As someone meant to be the leader of a team of super-powered pseudo-superheroes, Jason likes to think that nothing can scare him. He’s in charge of four lives beyond his own, whether or not they’d agree to that—he’s made of steel, nerves and all.

After a trip to the grocery store with his mom (because he loves her and wants to use his abilities to help her even if she can’t know about them), though, the ranger of steel walks into his room and promptly _shrieks_ as he notices Trini Kwan lounged in his windowsill, thumbing through a comic book of his like she’s supposed to be there or something. At his scream, her eyes flick up for a moment, one brow raised.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Red.” It’s probably supposed to be a question, but it’s also Trini, who likes to deadpan at him like he’s actual authority. She shakes her head once and turns her attention back to the comic book—Jason stands still in his doorway, completely silenced in disbelief.

“Jason?!” His mom shouts from downstairs.

“I’m okay, mom, I just—saw a spider?” Trini snorts at his response. He grimaces. His mom doesn’t answer him, so Jason figures that she’s satisfied with the reasoning behind his sudden scream.

“So much for being our fearless leader,” she goads, her attention now focused on him. “Spiders? Really? You couldn’t come up with something more creative?”

“What are you doing here?” Jason asks, pointedly stepping around the question so that he doesn’t have to admit out loud that spiders fucking _terrify_ him. Trini goes along with it. (Bless her.) She sets the comic book down and hops off the windowsill, just as graceful as Zack but twice as present—she’s at almost a foot shorter than him but somehow manages to take up more space than any of the others.

“Your window was open,” she replies, tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear. Her mouth opens, as if she’s going to say more, but then promptly shuts, and she shakes her head, starting back towards the window. “I can go if you want. I shouldn’t have just climbed in while you weren’t here—”

“No, no. Stay.” He can see from the look in her eyes that her parents have been fighting about her again. (He knows that feeling all too well.) He also knows that Trini doesn’t want to burden anyone with her real life, so she won’t say anything. And, well, what kind of leader would he be if he didn’t reach out in some way or another? He walks into his room and shuts the door behind him, quietly noting the relief that stretches across her face as the room becomes just the two of them.

Trini sits down on the windowsill as Jason plops onto his bed, phone in hand. She doesn’t say anything.

“You wanna talk?” Jason asks, knowing the answer already. Trini snorts.

“Crazy weather we’re having, huh?” She replies sarcastically, and Jason laughs a little. Her answering smile makes his stomach twist a little in affection. _That’s a no_.

“Yeah.” He pauses. “Y’know, Trin, you can hang out here as long as you like.” She doesn’t answer, just nods her head a little. He speaks Yellow Ranger. He knows she’s saying thank you.

* * *

 

As is usual around 10pm on a Wednesday, Jason’s phone is almost constantly vibrating from the group chat he has going with the rest of the team. (He’s got them in his phone as hearts that correspond with their ranger color, though he doesn’t tell them because he thinks it’s dorky.) Tonight, though, he feels a little distant—he’d taken a nap earlier and dreamed about Billy dying again. It was worse than the reoccurring one he’d started to get used to: in this one, there was blood, and Jason had been holding Billy in his arms when he’d died, and it was so jarringly real that he’d ran to the bathroom to dry-heave into the toilet.

But he thought he’d gotten past it—his mom made one of his _favorite_ dinners, and his dad hadn’t gotten on his case about careers after graduation; Pearl had even baked something earlier while he was out, and she’d been excited to share it with him. And, sitting with them in their open living room, Jason started to feel a little bit okay again.

That feeling clearly wasn’t meant to last, however. The chat is buzzing in his hands, and he _knows_ he should respond but his heart feels so heavy and his chest is tighter than it should be, and the screen blurs in his vision because tears are budding in the corners of his eyes. But he’s fine, he’s _fine_ —the buzzing slows down a little bit, and Jason takes a deep breath and sets the phone face down. He ignores the way it frantically goes off again and peels off his shirt, replacing his jeans with softer pajama pants as he falls back into bed without picking up his phone. (It buzzes again and again and again, but he can’t—he doesn’t have the energy and he’s still shaken from before.)

“Jason?” A voice asks, and the red ranger jerks up at the sound. Billy Cranston is climbing down from the now-open bay window, a worried look on his face. “Jason, are you okay?”

“Billy?” It’s all Jason can manage, his heart gradually sinking back down from his throat. Billy nods and starts to walk towards where Jason is perched.

“Kim’s here too.” As if on cue, Jason watches as Kimberly vaults through the windowsill effortlessly, her face a mirror of Billy’s. “You weren’t answering your phone and we got worried, so I reached out to Kim and I asked her if you were responding to her and she said no and—” Billy pauses and shakes his head. “Are you okay?”

Jason watches in awe as the two of them sit down on his bed, their hands intertwined, their eyes both fixated on him. For a moment, he forgets how to speak. God, he loves them. “Yeah.” His voice shakes a little. They both know he’s lying—he can tell from the look they exchange. It’s quiet for a moment as the wind blows gently through the room. Kim opens her mouth first.

“You didn’t—did you have that dream again?” She doesn’t specify—Jason talks to her sometimes, about how he keeps reliving Billy’s death in his sleep even though it’s been months. Kim always understands—she quietly tells him about her nightmares in return, and they sit together in their fragile moments to collect themselves. He loves that about her—loves how she always knows how to make him calm. Right now, she reaches out with her other hand to grab one of his, now clutching his bad left knee. He doesn’t want to lie to her. After a few beats of silence, he nods. “Oh, _Jay_.” She pulls him into a hug before he knows what’s happening, pressing her face into the crook of his neck and murmuring soft apologies into his skin. Billy just watches him, his eyes sad. (Jason wants Billy to hug him, too, more than anything—but he knows how Billy works, knows how he doesn’t like to be touched or initiate contact, so he tightens his hold on Kimberly and closes his eyes.)

“Do you want us to stay with you?” Billy’s voice is uncharacteristically quiet, now. Kim lets go of him, and Jason shifts on his bed, nods, reaches a hand out for Billy to take. (He doesn’t.) Jason scoots back to the middle of his bed and lies down. Kim settles next to him on his left, her hand still locked with his. She curls up into him, turned on her side, and smiles in that soft, reassuring way that he loves so much. He’s so busy looking into her eyes that he doesn’t notice the way the bed dips on his other side until it’s already happened—he’s not startled when Billy sidles up to him on his right, but he’s not expecting it. Jason turns his head and smiles softly, breathing in the blue ranger’s scent rather than focusing on the last time he’d dreamed about him. Billy returns it, just as soft. To Jason’s surprise, however, Billy scoots closer and curls up next to him, too, resting his head on the soft part of Jason’s shoulder.

“I love you,” Jason breathes, meant for both of them. He’s too overwhelmed to say anything else—the wind dies down out on the water, and the silence of Angel Grove that had been missing for months on end returns for the evening. Bracketed by two of the people he loves most in the world, Jason falls asleep. He doesn’t dream.

* * *

 

Sleeping together is always chaotic for the ranger team. No one’s bed is _quite_ big enough (though Kim’s is close) and there’s always anxiety about who else is in the house, and sometimes Jason and Zack battle for control despite the fact that they’re both ultimately going to get what they want. It’s stressful in the oddest way. More often than not, though, the five rangers end up at the Scott household—partially because Jason is their leader, and partially because his parents are always preoccupied with work and other out-of-house activities.

Tonight, after a particularly rowdy session which may have actually strained one of the muscles in his back, Jason manages to extract himself from the naked, sweaty cuddle pile and pads silently over to his window, which he opens as quietly as he can. The cool, fresh autumn air hits his body immediately, and he sighs contentedly, sitting down on the newly-purchased cushions and leaning against the wooden frame. A perk of living on the water—no one else is really close enough to spot when you’re sitting in your window bare naked. He closes his eyes.

He can hear Zack starting to snore, a sign that he’s worn out—usually Zack is one of the last ones to fall asleep, which means tonight must’ve been extremely relieving for him. Jason smiles—he remembers the way Zack had moaned his name earlier in the evening, after one particularly good pump of his cock, remembers the way his kiss had felt so urgent, and yeah, it had definitely been a good night for Zack Taylor. (Billy had taken over for him as Kim had pulled Jason into a searing kiss in between the moments she’d been eating Trini out—needless to say, _everyone_ had gotten their wish.)

“You’re not tired, Red?” Trini asks from behind him. Jason scoots over as she settles down next to him, coated in sweat as she leans up against Jason’s skin. Jason hums quietly in the negative, and Trini mimics the sound. Her legs dangle over the sill. “Me neither.”

“I thought Kim wore you out pretty well,” he teases, and Trini blushes and looks down, somehow more embarrassed about that than about the fact that she’s sitting naked next to his own naked body. Then again—Trini’s always been like that, confident but somehow still shy when it comes to certain things. They sit in silence for a while, staring out at the moon shining over the water below them. Jason winds an arm around her shoulders in some kind of hug, and Trini doesn’t shy away from it—in fact, she leans her head on his shoulder and sighs.

“I love you,” she says quietly. Jason makes a soft noise in his throat. “I mean—you know what I mean. I do.”

“You know I love you too.” He presses a chaste kiss to the side of her head, and she lets a quiet laugh echo into the night. “You ever wonder how you got so lucky?”

“Oh, now you’re getting a little too cocky,” Trini teases, and he rolls his eyes with a chuckle. She pauses. “Yeah. All the time. I never thought…” She turns her head back towards Jason’s bed, where Kim is spooning Zack, who’s got an arm around Billy. They’re all completely asleep. “I never thought I could be this happy. Not with one person, let alone _four_.” Jason agrees wordlessly, casting his gaze back out onto the water. Neither of them say anything else. Trini gets up with a quiet groan and crawls back to bed, wrapping her arms around Kim’s waist and pressing a kiss to the back of her right shoulder. Kim makes a soft noise of pleasure in her sleep. Jason feels so happy it’s almost ridiculous. He’s never loved anyone more than he loves them.

Another cool breeze fills his room, and he’s coated in sweat as it is, but he climbs back into bed anyway and rests his head on the pillow next to Billy’s. Trini’s words echo in his head. He doesn’t think he could’ve said it better himself.

* * *

 

Winter rolls into Angel Grove before anyone realizes it. The snow falls heavy and the roads get crowded; people have finally turned their attention away from the tiny town, after Rita’s damage had been almost completely erased from Krispy Kreme, and with blankets of snow come that nice quiet everyone looked forward to. His first semester at Angel Grove Community College just finished about a week and a half ago, and as the holidays start to speed toward them, Jason finds himself lingering in bed longer in the mornings, relishing the free time between training and putting academic work in. This morning is no exception.

His phone buzzes on his side table, and he picks it up.

 

> B: IT’S PERFECT SLEDDING WEATHER
> 
> Z: DUDE YOU’RE RIGHT
> 
> T: alternative: no
> 
> B: Really, T?
> 
> Z: what kind of crazy girl r u
> 
> T: red, kim, back me up on this.
> 
> K: aw, trini, it IS perfect sledding weather tho
> 
> Z: O SHIT
> 
> Z: PINK LEMONADE IN DISAGREEMENT? STOP THE PRESS
> 
> B: lol
> 
> T: shut your damn mouth zack
> 
> B: so yes to sleds?
> 
> T: red, you’re the tiebreaker.
> 
> Z: it cant b a tie if its 1 against 3
> 
> T: shut up

               Jason grins at the messages, rolling out of bed.

 

> J: not taking sides but
> 
> J: sleds then krispy?
> 
> J: trini i’ll buy u coffee

            He laughs as he starts to put on layers, scrolling through the sudden war Trini had just waged on Zack and Billy in the chat. _Kim’s going to definitely regret agreeing with them_ , he thinks fondly.

 

> J: window’s open
> 
> T, B, K, Z: we know
> 
> Z: r u ever gonna get that thing locked?
> 
> J: are u ever gonna show up at my front door like a normal person
> 
> Z: touche.

**Author's Note:**

> please come talk to me about this ot5 on tumblr. im [polyrangers](http://grantgustin.tk) and i am always down to talk about how much these DWEEBS love each other.


End file.
